Team Nineball's Daring Adventure!
by UnendingEmpire
Summary: When Cirno finds a message and a map in a bottle, she and her lovable gang of idiots prepare to set out to find a priceless treasure.  Using a boat modified by Yukari Yakumo herself, there's no telling what mishaps will befall this adventure!
1. Chapter 1

**To be honest, I have a really dumb reason for writing this.**

**All my other works require a lot of thought and consideration on my part, as well as a lot of planning, even if it seems otherwise. For once, I wanted to write some stupid and childish story where I didn't need to really think about what would happen next; something I could just write and enjoy. Like other works I have starring our beloved baka, Team Nineball has the same cave-type hideout inspired by TakerFoxx's wonderful fanfic Imperfect Metamorphosis. You know, I should really get back to reading that so I can finish catching up, I'm about 2/3 done now so I might read a few more chapters once I get this uploaded.**

**Oh yeah, did I mention that this, like many other recent works of mine, is based on an image I found on Danbooru? I seem to spend a lot of time there recently.**

* * *

><p>Summer in Gensokyo. Actually, summer was coming to an end, so let's rephrase that…<p>

It would soon be autumn in Gensokyo. Generally, something interesting happened during the summer, but not even Cirno and the rest of Team Nineball could find something interesting this year. Spring had been unusually quiet (aside from the usual, obnoxiously loud announcements from Lily White) and so far summer wasn't proving any better. And just as Cirno had given up hope as she flew over Misty Lake to try and find anything even remotely interesting, she found something…

A bottle floating in the lake. It seemed to have a couple pieces of paper inside. _Aha! We've finally got it!_ Cirno dove in, and snatched the bottle right out of the water as though anybody else could take it away at any second. Whatever was inside this bottle, it had to be interesting!

* * *

><p>Team Nineball's subterranean cave of a hideout was the same as usual, if not a bit hotter than usual because it was getting near the end of summer, and the hideout <em>was<em> underground. It usually didn't seem that way when Cirno was around, though; most likely because she naturally chilled the air around her. That chill swept the hideout when Cirno came bolting in with a bottle in her hand, nothing in it besides two pieces of paper. "I found something," she yelled. "Everybody get out here, I found something!"

Before long, the other four members of Team Nineball were out in the main cavern, some looking excited and others annoyed. "What did you find," Wriggle asked. "It's not another weird sunflower, is it? You know how those things scare me."

"Nah, that's not it," Cirno proclaimed happily and proudly. "I found a bottle!"

"That's it? A bottle?"

"But look! There's something inside! But I can't get the damn thing open, can somebody help?"

"Let me see it," Rumia said. If there was one thing Rumia was good at aside from using darkness, it was opening stuff. From rusty doors that seemed to not budge for anybody else to things that had several magical locks on them, Rumia seemed to be able to open just about anything. When Cirno handed Rumia the bottle, the youkai of darkness demonstrated this talent yet again, as she sunk her teeth deep into the cork that held the bottle shut. Then her hands gripped the end of the neck, and she began pulling the bottle away from her face while she pulled her face away from her hands. Before long, _POP_! It was open, and Rumia spit the cork out, handing the bottle to Cirno. "Easy."

"Thanks." Cirno pulled out the first paper, and looked it over. "Hm…interesting."

"What? What is it?"

"Whoever wrote this has really neat handwriting."

"…That's it?"

"Hey, I can't read. Any of you willing to take over?"

"Give me that," Wriggle said. She claimed to be the smartest of Team Nineball (but then again, so did Cirno, so does that really mean anything?) but if there was one sense in which she was correct, it was that she was the best reader and writer of the five. "It says…to whom it may concern. I don't know who you are, and I don't know where you are. All I know is that you found this bottle that I cast out into the ocean just moments after I finished writing this letter. My name is Geraldo de Cruz, and I am an explorer and archaeologist."

"What's an archaeologist?"

"No idea. Anyway…as I'm writing this, my body is nearing it's limits. I can't hold out for much longer, so I will tell you what I can. Six years ago, I received news of a wondrous treasure buried deep within an ancient tomb, and promptly put together an exploration party and gathered resources. My men and I spent five long years searching for it, but we have had no luck. Supposedly, this treasure is capable of granting any one wish. My men all eventually died of hunger or thirst, and for the last year I have continued the search alone. I'm afraid my lust for treasure has gotten the best of me, so I entrust to you, dear stranger, the map leading to this treasure. I can only hope that, should you search for this treasure as well, you will have better luck than I did."

As Wriggle finished reading the letter, Cirno had reached her hand in and taken out the map. "Wow, this is awesome!" Before long, everybody else's heads were next to her shoulders so that they too could see the map, and they all looked like they were going to enjoy the search as well. "It's decided," Cirno proclaimed louder than any fairy had the right to. "We've gotta go find this treasure! Then we get our wish!"

"I'll wish to block out the sun," Rumia said happily.

"You can't block out the sun," Mystia and Wriggle said in unison.

"Well, what would _you_ wish for?"

"World peace," Mystia said.

"The power to keep Yuka _far_ away from me," Wriggle said, her voice shaking a bit at the mention of the flower youkai.

"Are you kidding," Cirno asked. "We need to wish for an endless winter!"

"You're insane," Wriggle yelled. "You'd kill me and Mystia!"

Daiyousei, being herself, had stayed in the corner. She didn't look at the map, and she wasn't going to say what her wish was. "Um…excuse me…"

"Just adapt! I adapt to the cold just fine, Wriggle."

"You're a damned ice fairy! You're _supposed_ to adapt to the cold!"

"But I also adapt to heat very well."

"_Ice_…freaking…_fairy!_"

"Oh, is somebody jealous that I'm stronger?"

"Only in your wildest dreams, Cirno!"

"Both of you cut it out," Mystia yelled into the ears of both Cirno and Wriggle. "We need to get ready to go on this treasure hunt before we even consider our wishes. And before we can get ready, we need to find out how many people to prepare for. So, who is going? I for one would love to."

"I'm in," Cirno said.

"I'd like to go on an adventure," Rumia said happily.

"You guys will be a wreck without me," Wriggle said. "Count me in, too."

"Excellent. And that leaves Daiyousei. How 'bout it, you also coming along?"

"Um…well…" Daiyousei got up to her feet, and said "I'd rather not, to be honest."

"Hm?"

"That Geraldo guy, didn't he _die_? I know if we die we'll just come back by the end of the day, but death is still very unpleasant, and I'd prefer to avoid it. Mystia, you know it better than any of us, right?"

"…" Mystia's entire body shuddered a little, just thinking about it. All the "trips" to Hakugyokurou, the few weeks that Mystia and Rumia were sworn enemies, the random encounters with that phoenix-girl who ran that fried chicken stand, and most recently, a jiang shi that just up and ate her at random. Being killed was far from fun. "If you don't want to go, you don't have to."

"Thank you."

"I'm sure you'd do the same for me. Now then, our adventure…what do we need?"

"A boat," Cirno said. Then she began running her finger over a large blue part of the map, and said "I'm pretty sure this is water. Wriggle's a bad swimmer, and I know you don't like getting your wings wet, Mystia."

"Can't we just fly over the water?"

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

"I suppose. And we would need somewhere to store everything else. Alright, so a boat it is. What else would we need?"

"Plenty of food and water! And we'd also need…"

* * *

><p>The entire day had gone to planning out the things they'd need for the trip. The list was rather large, costing in the millions of yen, but Mystia insisted that nobody panic. Now was the time to show them just why. "I've been saving up since before we even met." Mystia moved a large rock hiding a sub-cavern inside the cavern that was her room, stuffed to the brim with at least fifty bags of yen that looked like they were about to explode. "There's ten-million yen in each of these bags. Multiply that by fifty bags, and we've got five-billion yen. More than enough to fund the adventure."<p>

"F-F-F…" Wriggle couldn't believe her ears. "Five _billion_? Mystia, do you have any idea what we could do with all that?"

"Live like royalty, get everything we want and more."

"Yeah! Why have you been holding back on us?"

"Because if we have everything we want, there's nothing any of us want."

"That makes no sense…"

"If somebody has all their dreams coming true in the blink of an eye, they have nothing to work towards any longer. Remember when we first started settling in this cave? Having to dig out our own individual rooms and building the camouflage for the front?"

"It was hard as all hell!"

"Exactly. Remember all the good times we had doing it? If I'd just bought us a mansion, we wouldn't have any of those good times. I keep all the money back here for safekeeping, so that anything we need we can get, and occasionally we go out and buy all sorts of fun things. If my business ever dies out, we need some saved-up money to support us until somebody finds a new source of income. Now does it make more sense?"

"I suppose…I still think we should go spend at least half of that." Wriggle faced away from the money to avoid the temptation of stealing her friend's money, and said "It's safe to assume we'll have one kick-ass boat at least, right?"

"That's for certain. This adventure will be long and hard, but we'll get one wish from it. I'll start buying the things we need. Rumia, care to help?"

"Sure." The youkai of darkness grabbed a couple of money bags along with Mystia, and the two left the room, part-nudging/part-shoving Cirno and Wriggle out of the room. "So, what's first on the shopping list?"

"A boat."

"Is that so?"

* * *

><p><strong>First chapter of my dumbest and most childish work yet. I'm not gonna say who (if they even find the treasure) will get their wish, since the treasure only grants one single wish. If this were a regular work of mine, this would be the part where I say "The next couple of chapters are gonna have Mystia and Rumia buying everything and Cirno and Wriggle planning out the trip since that's just a disaster waiting to happen" but as I stated, this isn't a regular work of mine. Granted, the next chapter will have that idea, but I dunno about anything from there. All I know is that the boat is gonna be very expensive, like four-billion yen expensive.<strong>

**I'm not really good with currency conversions, but I say four-billion because…well, you should know that part already**


	2. Chapter 2: Preparation!

**This one took very long, yes? I'm glad to have a second chapter up :D**

* * *

><p>Mystia and Rumia looked around, the bags stuffed with cash weighing them down quite a bit as they hovered over all of Gensokyo. "Alright," Mystia said. "We need to get a boat, but I don't really see any around here. Any ideas, Rumia?"<p>

"Yukari probably can do it. That gap youkai has all sorts of cool stuff from the human world, and I'm sure the humans there have _huge_ boats."

"Good idea. So…where do we find Yukari?"

"Beats me. Doesn't she usually hang out with the shrine maiden?"

"That was how Wriggle and I first met her, so I suppose. We should go to the shrine and see if Yukari's around."

* * *

><p>In Team Nineball's hideout, Wriggle and Cirno were taking a good look at the map, trying to figure out everything else. "I'm still pretty convinced that this is water," Cirno said, running her finger along the blue part that composed a fair portion of the map.<p>

"Of course it's water! What else could it be if it's blue?"

"The sky?"

"An island in the sky?"

"Sure! Why not?"

"…Cirno, I'm sorry, but that's just stupid." The only thing that this Geraldo person forgot to add to his map was where the damn treasure was, so Wriggle and Cirno had been trying to figure it out. "I'm pretty sure all this yellow here is desert."

"And this big brown part might be some kind of mountain."

"But this other desert is next to the green, which is probably a forest. Geez, this Geraldo guy has some fancy handwriting but this map looks like _you_ drew it, Cirno."

"Hey, I feel insulted!"

"You're a great ice artist, but even you have to admit, your hand-eye coordination is horrible, even for a fairy."

"I don't have to admit anything!"

"Whatever. We still don't know where it could be. For all we know, this treasure doesn't even exist."

"Oh, it exists alright. If it didn't why would we even bother going on this treasure hunt?" Cirno kept looking at the map, and put her finger on a white part of the map. "I bet this is a glacier! If I had a priceless treasure, that's where _I'd_ hide it."

"Yeah, but you're not the one who hid it, are you?"

"No, but I'll sure as hell find it!" _As soon as I find out where it is…_ "So there's a desert, a forest, a mountain, a glacier, and a lot of other stuff probably too!"

"What the hell is "a lot of other stuff" supposed to mean?"

"Means that surely the island isn't as simple as this map says. Geraldo's a smart guy, but his drawing skills are horrible."

* * *

><p>"A boat?"<p>

"Yes, we need one." Mystia and Rumia had found Yukari, though not where they expected. Reimu had sent them across Gensokyo to a different location, but what mattered was that they found Yukari. "See, we found a treasure map and we want to go out and find the treasure. We're willing to pay generously for your troubles." Mystia didn't bother to tell Reimu the amount in question while they were at the Hakurei Shrine; if she did then there would probably be one less night sparrow in the world until Reimu squeezed every last bit of cash out of Team Nineball's stunningly large reserve.

"How generously?"

"Two-billion yen for a boat that's been enhanced with your border powers."

"Hmm…make it four."

"Deal."

"My, you say that so calmly. I wonder, do you really have four billion yen?"

"Yes."

"It's true," Rumia said. "It's all stashed away in a bunch of bags in our hideout under-MMFMMGM!" Rumia tried to pry Mystia's hands off of her mouth, but the night sparrow seemed determined to keep her friend's mouth shut.

"Just ignore her," Mystia said. "But yes, we have the money. If we could just get a gap from here to the base of Youkai Mountain, since it's near our hideout, we'll have all the money to you soon enough, I promise."

"Very well. I'll get started on that boat of yours; you two start bringing in the money." Yukari opened up a gap like the two had specified, and then started figuring out this whole boat situation. _These girls…I can only wonder what they're going to search for with a boat. Still, four-billion yen is not laughing matter. I might even donate a bit to the Hakurei Shrine…I might. Probably not._ After all, why would somebody donate to Gensokyo's number-one bully? No wonder the Moriya Shrine got donations often…

* * *

><p>"But if the treasure is in the desert, don't you think Geraldo would have found it?"<p>

"Not at all," Wriggle said. "It's a _desert_, the number-one spot on a deserted island for getting lost. What if he just got lost, wound up near the ocean, and then wrote the letter? For all we know, he's bluffing."

"Why would he bluff about treasure?"

"To send us on a wild goose chase."

"What good would that do him or us?"

"…"

"Exactly!"

* * *

><p>Mystia and Rumia each kept carrying as many bags of cash as they could, ignoring the sounds of Wriggle and Cirno arguing that kept echoing off the subterranean walls of their hideout. The night sparrow had moved the rock aside again, and was dragging out all but a few of the bags of money. "I knew all these savings would go toward something cool someday. I just didn't think it would be a boat."<p>

"Is that so? What did you think it was going to go to?"

"I figured that one of you would find it sooner or later and beg me to build us all a mansion each with the money. After this we'll still have one billion yen left, so we can certainly expect a top-notch adventure when we search for this treasure."

"That's good to know. Just don't go spending _all_ your money, alright? You said you wanted to keep some saved up, right?"

"Right. It's strange…"

"What's strange?"

"Yesterday, I wouldn't have been able to imagine us spending four-billion yen on a boat. And now, here we are, dragging out sack after sack of money to pay for such a boat."

* * *

><p><strong>Late that night…<strong>

"Alright," Cirno yelled. "Everything's complete!"

"You don't have to yell," Wriggle said, nearly yelling herself. "We're all right next to you!"

"I'm not yelling!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Both of you be quiet," Mystia said. "What matters is that everything is prepared, and we all need to get some sleep. Being a night sparrow myself, I'll be trying extra hard to fall asleep so that I can keep up with everybody during the day."

"Stay awake for the night," Cirno said. "As friggin' cool as it is that we have a boat, what if it gets late at night and we still don't find the island? _Somebody_ needs to steer the boat, and since you see the best in the dark out of all of us, that somebody should be you."

"That's awfully smart of you," Mystia said. "Should I go tell Rumia the same?"

"Sure. It would suck if you had to work nights all by yourself. But once we hit land, everybody's sleeping at night and exploring at day." Cirno took another look at the map. "So, deserts, mountains, a glacier, forest, plains, and what might be a swamp of some sort." Laughing a bit, Cirno said "This is going to be one hell of an adventure!"

* * *

><p><strong>The following morning, near a gap not far from Youkai Mountain…<strong>

"This is it," Cirno said. "The adventure of our lives begins right here, and right now! Let's find that treasure and get our wish!" And without missing a heartbeat afterward, Cirno leapt through the gap, landing on the other side; on the boat which rested in the ocean of what couldn't possibly be Gensokyo. Were they in the outside world? Or was this some other world? No matter what world it was, the treasure was here!

"You're sure eager," Rumia said, stepping through the gap as well. "Well, I'll be below deck, sleeping. See you at sunset."

"Later," Cirno said. Then the ice fairy made her way up to the helm of the ship. Yukari had been awesome enough to even give them a sailboat! With massive sails and an assortment of cannons on the side! Hell, if Cirno didn't know better, she'd say Yukari had just given Team Nineball a pirate ship all to themselves! Now _that_ would be damn cool!

"Alright," Wriggle said, stepping through the gap onto the boat. "How much do we actually know about commandeering this thing?"

"Not a thing," Cirno proudly proclaimed. Not a second later did a gap open right above her head, dumping out a very thick book and a night sparrow that landed directly on her with enough force to knock Cirno down to her feet. "That hurt!" And before anything else could happen, Mystia quickly flew below deck. She was exhausted and wanted to sleep until sunset.

_"Ufufufu…"_

"Goddammit, Yukari…" Getting up to her feet, Cirno picked up and looked at the book. "Alright, Wriggle, you're the reader here. What's all this?"

"The cover says it's some kind of instruction book. I guess the best place to start in reading this damn thing is at the start, right?" Wriggle opened the book to the first page, and read aloud the foreword. "Dear Team Nineball. Thank you for choosing me for your nautical needs. Your payment was highly appreciated, and I may even donate some of the proceeds to the Hakurei Shrine since I'm now suddenly so unimaginably rich. Whatever I do with the money, this boat, which I call the Fantasy Vessel, is yours to keep, even after you finish this little adventure of yours. If you ever have the need to contact me for any reason, there's a little gap on the last page; just wave for me through that. With love and best wishes, Yukari Yakumo."

"I don't know if I should feel touched or creeped out that she loves us," Cirno said.

"Does it matter? Let's see here, first page…Well, I'm just skimming through this, but it says that the sails are just for looks; they don't actually pick up on the wind."

"That's weak! How are we supposed to make a sailboat go if the sails don't work?"

"Says here that you make it move by just holding the helm and willing it to move. And she did this with control of borders?" Yukari must have worked very hard on the Fantasy Vessel, to create something like this. "I'm going to have a look around and see what else is on this boat. I'll come back up when I've explored the whole thing."

"You've got it. I'll start working on finding this island!" Cirno gripped the helm tightly and imagined the boat moving forward, to find that it worked just as Yukari's manual said! Team Nineball's daring adventure was just about to begin, and it would be quite a trek to find this beloved treasure. Cirno looked forward to it.


	3. Chapter 3: Land Ho!

***sob sob***

**I miss the "old" me as a writer; the one who could gush out AT LEAST one update a day! What the hell happened to me?**

**I'm sorry this took so dreadfully long to update, but I actually didn't expect this to get many readers when I started it up so long ago, but now that I know there are folks looking forward to seeing the next chapter (thank you, dear reviewers) I feel like I've gotta put a little more effort into writing this.**

**That was what really fueled me before, but it seems like all my usual reviewers have disappeared, and I don't seem to be getting many reviews these days. Think of how gods get their power from faith; I'm the same way with reviews and the knowledge that others are looking forward to my writing. So please, if you want to see more of this, TELL ME!**

**For the love of Mima-sama, tell me!**

* * *

><p><strong>Yukari's manual for the Fantasy Vessel; page 2, in explanation about the bedrooms…<strong>

The Fantasy Vessel is fitted with numerous decks, as I already explained, and the second-lowest deck has six bedrooms; one for every member of Team Nineball (which reminds me, Chen seemed rather upset that you didn't think about inviting her for this adventure) and each has been specially designed to suit its owner. For example, Cirno's room is rather cold and is mostly composed of ice, whereas Wriggle's room is warm and has plenty of tropical plants insects are attracted to. Each room can change to it's owner's will, so do what you wish with your bedroom. Please don't remove the closet though; I worked extra hard to set it up to that whatever outfit you desired would be waiting for you in there.

* * *

><p>"I could get used to this," Wriggle said, kicking back in a hammock made out of some sort of vines. But this was no time to kick back and relax; not only was this manual massive, but the Fantasy Vessel wasn't small by any means, either. It had taken Wriggle almost an hour to explore the whole thing, but now she knew where absolutely everything was! The fact that there was a map inside the manual also helped a little bit…<p>

No matter, this wasn't the time for slacking off. Cirno probably needed help up above deck. Getting up to her now-relaxed feet, Wriggle stretched a little before starting to head up the numerous decks. Why the bedrooms were so low in the boat were beyond her, but most of Team Nineball's savings had gone into buying this behemoth of a boat, so-

_CRASH!_ The entire boat rocked viciously, hurling Wriggle right into the wall. That hurt. A lot. Now she had to get up top more to yell at Cirno than to give her a hand.

"Land ho," she could hear the ice fairy shouting. "I found the island!" Indeed as they say, speak of the fairy.

* * *

><p><strong>Later; top deck…<strong>

"You crashed it," Wriggle yelled, looking at the large hole in the front of the boat. "You _wrecked_ it! We can't sail on a boat if the front is broken, Cirno!"

"I'm sure Yukari can fix it, but that doesn't matter right now. We're here on the island, and the treasure is here somewhere." Looking at the land ahead of the two, she could only see desert until it faded to mountains on the horizon. "Alright, we're here," the ice fairy said, pointing at the wrong desert on the map; they crashed on the northern desert, and Cirno was convinced it was the southern one. "And if you look to your right, you'll see…hey, where's the swamp?"

"You've got it wrong," Wriggle said, placing her finger on the correct desert. "_This_ is where we are. That's why there's a glacier there instead of a swamp."

"Alright! Team Nineball, move out!" And with that, Cirno hopped off the boat and started marching off toward the glacier. No doubt about it; the treasure was there. That's where she'd hide it, and it wasn't like putting a priceless treasure up in a glacier was a bad idea or anything. Cirno thought the idea was exceptionally excellent. Turning around, she realized…nobody was following her. "Hey, come on! We aren't gonna get there if we just sit around all day long!"

"We'll need supplies," Wriggle said. "The thing is, since _you_ crashed the boat, we can't sail around the island and keep them ready, so we need to figure out a new way to carry around everything we'll need. That's food, water, stuff to set up camp, and things to keep any bad weather off our backs. Maybe, being the _genius_ I know you are, you can pull out a trick from under your hat?"

"From under my hat…" Baka brainwave. "Get back in the boat; I have an idea!"

* * *

><p><strong>Fantasy Vessel; bedroom deck…<strong>

"There's no way this is gonna work," Wriggle said.

"Hey, the book said _whatever outfit we desired_, didn't it? Just desire something with a hat that has the same powers as the boat itself, and we'll be golden." Deciding to try it before anybody else, Cirno ran off into her room. Before long, she came back out in a brown explorer's outfit; a short-sleeved shirt, short pants, and of course, the hat. Taking it off, Cirno reached in, and desired…a snowball. And when the ice fairy's hand emerged, there was a snowball! "See? Told ya so," Cirno said, throwing the snowball right at Wriggle's face, much to the angered shouting of the firefly youkai. Reaching in once again, Cirno this time pulled out a sheet of paper with three massive black words written on it.

**Told you so!**

"Yeah, yeah, don't let it get to your head," Wriggle grumbled, wiping the snow off her face. "Alright, so your idea worked, so I guess it _almost_ makes up for wrecking the boat Mystia spent almost all her money on."

"Only eighty percent," the night sparrow said, reddening a little bit for whatever reason. "Most of the rest went toward things inside the boat, actually, so maybe we should stick around and repair the Fantasy Vessel?"

"…"

"…"

"Guess not, huh?"

"Let's do it," Cirno and Wriggle said in unison.

* * *

><p><strong>Morons are now getting ready to repair a 4-billion yen boat…<strong>

"I'm probably going to regret asking you this," Wriggle said, tools in hand and shipwreck in sight. "But what are you doing, Cirno?"

"Doesn't fixing a boat sound like something you can't really do in silence? I heard that the outside world has these things that pick up on music from somewhere else, and play it out loud for you to enjoy." Fishing deeper into her seemingly bottomless (and if these repairs went well, obsolete) hat, the ice fairy finished "I'm gonna get one of those." And when Cirno's hand emerged, there was a red box with a speaker and a few dials on it. "So how's it work?"

"Let me see," Rumia said. Nobody really knew how, but Rumia was usually able to figure this stuff out. Press a few buttons, turn a few dials, and…

_(Unconventional SFX: WICKED GUITAR SOLOOOOOOO!)_

"What's the guy playing doing," Cirno asked. It was certainly something she'd never heard before.

"Not sure," the youkai of darkness said with tiny sparkles in her eyes. "But I _like_ it!"

* * *

><p><strong>Repairs montage. BGM: Beat It (Yngwie Malmsteen covervarious metal songs)**

"Wait, I think it's supposed to go the other way around."

"Hey look at that, you're right!"

* * *

><p>"Rumia," Wriggle shouted. "Quit slacking off! You've gotta help too!"<p>

"But the music, Wriggle. Have you ever heard music like this? I can't get enough~"

"Ugh, fine, be useless."

_(Unconventional SFX: RADIO BLAAAAAAARE!)_

"**Turn it down!**"

* * *

><p>"How do we fit this one in," Mystia asked, holding a part of the wreckage from the Fantasy Vessel. "There isn't space for it, and there's still that hole in the front."<p>

"Ask Rumia," Cirno said. Wriggle had stopped helping with the excuse (and a rather crappy one according to Cirno) that the music Rumia had playing was hurting her antennae.

"Rumia!" Although, Mystia had the haunting impression that this would be pointless, asking Rumia for help. She seemed pretty mesmerized by the music they were listening to.

"Travelin' through both space and time~"

"Hey, Rumia!"

"Outta body, out of mind~"

"Hey!"

"Out of con-"

_SLAP!_ "Focus! This isn't like you, Rumia!"

"O-Oh, right. What's up?"

"Care to put in the last piece?"

"Sure!" Rumia looked at the piece of wood, then the last hole that needed fixing. Team Nineball had done an excellent job of putting it back together, it seemed, and in such a short time too. To say the least, the youkai of darkness was impressed; this took all of two minutes. It _was_ only two minutes, right? Now that Rumia looked around, she realized it must have been several hours at least; the sun was up high when these repairs started, and now the sun was going down over the glacier Cirno started heading toward earlier. "A-Ah! Hang on, where did the day go?"

"Got lost in the music, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"Deaf to all but the song, it seems," Mystia mused to herself as the youkai of darkness started making her way toward the boat to finish the repairs. _Good thing we at least got her before we finished fixing the boat. I bet she'd sit out here listening to that for days on end if we let her._ Though, Mystia had been tuning in and out of Rumia's radio (even though it was really Cirno's) and some of the songs had pretty wild vocal parts. Between songs a man would say something about metal radio and 24/7 nonstop metal for all the folks who enjoy it out there. Mystia had to wonder two things. First of all, why was Rumia so captivated by the metal?

Secondly, that man couldn't have possibly been from Gensokyo. Where were they really?

* * *

><p><strong>I've been considering starting every chapter from here on with an excerpt from Yukari's manual, but knowing Yukari, the gap ha-I mean, Troll Yo-I mean…actually, yeah, the Troll Youkai would change her manual right after I put up the excerpt. Therefore, I'll only do it when it's relevant to the plot.<strong>

**Also, metalhead Rumia was just something I thought up suddenly. I think Team Nineball would make a great metal band. Rumia on guitar (so much want), Wriggle on bass, Cirno on drums, and Mystia singing, or would she be screaming? Or, since she's a night sparrow, would it be squawking instead?**

**Squawk is such a bizarre word, isn't it? Squawk. Just typing it is difficult for me, and this from somebody who types "difficult" in less than a second. Squawk…two seconds, if not three.**


	4. Chapter 4: T Minus X Time

**The updates are getting more frequent, aren't they? Remember when I said reviews gave me power, like faith gives a god power? See, it's true!**

**Haha, anyway…**

**In response to Azure Xuchilbara's review, there's a very lengthy scene with Daiyousei in this chapter that takes up about half of the chapter, but important things are discussed, even if I go a bit off-topic in the later half of it. Oh well, that's just the way I write, and if y'all didn't like it, you wouldn't be here reading the fourth chapter in the first place, would ya?**

**Oh, on a totally unrelated note, I've decided that the opening theme from (Zoku) Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is officially my theme song :D**

* * *

><p><strong>Sunset; Fantasy Vessel's top deck…<strong>

"See, aren't you guys glad we did this?" The quartet that had come out on this adventure now found themselves kicking back on the deck, enjoying the sunset as they cruised by the island. They were going to set themselves up near the glacier, this time _without_ crashing, tomorrow morning. For now, the sight was too much to not be mesmerized by. Even Rumia, whose eyes easily couldn't withstand sunlight, had lightened up on her darkness enough so that she could see what the big deal was. Not a single one of them regretted this decision.

"It's pretty great," Wriggle said contently, seemingly the most relaxed of the bunch. "Maybe we should do adventures like this more often."

"And dig up _more_ ancient treasures! Team Nineball, better known as the best treasure hunters in all of Gensokyo!" The thought had the ice fairy delve into wild fantasies.

"So," Mystia said. "What are you all going to wish for?"

"Fabulous riches," Cirno said. She hadn't sounded this laid-back in a while.

"Eternal youth," Wriggle answered. She wanted to look like this forever, and not end up like Yukari.

"Chinese delicacies," Rumia answered simply. "Or at least, that's what I'm considering right now. I can never really make up my mind on what to wish for."

* * *

><p><strong>Voile, Gensokyo…<strong>

"Well, this is an unexpected face," Patchouli said in response to the newest unwelcome addition to the list of people who had come in here without invitation. Seriously, how bad could security in this mansion _possibly_ be with a time-controlling maid running about? "What brings a fairy here?"

"I need a few things answered, and everybody said you'd be the best one to answer them," Daiyousei said. "Can you help me out?"

"I most certainly _can_…but is there any good reason that makes it so I _will_?"

"See, my friends went off on an adventure, looking for a lost treasure, but we're not sure exactly what it is or how it works. I'd just like to know what exactly they're risking their lives for is all…"

"I need details."

"Oh! U-Um, we have this letter from the last person who went searching for it. Maybe this might help?"

"Yes, let's see…Geraldo de Cruz, archaeologist…ancient tomb, grant any one wish…I see. It's _that_."

"You know what it is?"

"Indeed. In truth, treasures like this; priceless and ancient artifacts capable of granting any one wish, are so horribly commonplace in fiction that they are simply outright cliché. However, in reality, one such treasure does exist. It is called the Goblet of Desire. Whoever drinks from this goblet need only make a wish, and it will come true. It was locked away by the very people who created it after the goblet's power led to the near-fall of their civilization, and if it hadn't been hidden from humanity, it would surely continue to be abused to this very day."

"Abused?"

"Indeed. There are some people who would use the goblet for foolish and selfish reasons. Something petty that they can do themselves, such as making a person love them or even worse, eternal life."

"W-Wait, isn't immortality a _good_ thing?"

"Do you really think so, fairy? Perhaps for a youkai, the weight of mortality cannot be understood, and the same can often be said of mortals before they become unable to die. I know that such a human exists in this world, and I know where they are as well. Shall we see her?" It was rare for Patchouli to even step out of Voile, let alone the entire Scarlet Devil Mansion, but this was a matter that permitted an exception from her usual routine. If it were to educate somebody on the true weight of mortality, she would happily go out of her comfort zone. For the sake of knowledge.

* * *

><p><strong>One search later; Bamboo Forest of the Lost…<strong>

"Fujiwara no Mokou, this is Daiyousei, a fairy who doesn't quite grasp the weight of immortality. Please educate her on the value death has to mortals."

"Teach her how valuable death is to mortals? My pleasure." As the purple-clad magician started making her way off, Mokou looked at this fairy. "So, do you want to live forever?"

"Yes, of course."

"Do you _really_ mean that?"

"Yes! I'm a fairy, so I'll just come back after death."

"Exactly. Imagine if you were human, just like me. You'd live for a couple dozen years short of a century, and then die like everybody else. _Forever_." Looking up at the sky, Mokou continued "In your twilight years, you'd look forward to that death. It'd be your only solace in life."

"You don't mean that!"

"Hmph." Fire art was far from easy, but Mokou would try this once. In Mokou's right hand, the blazing figure of a young human girl who bore a striking resemblance to Mokou herself. In her left, a number of other humans, both male and female. "I do. Let me tell you just how important death is for mortals. I don't get why Patchouli wanted me to teach you this, but this lesson is one I love handing out." The girl in Mokou's right hand grew a little bit, to reveal that her shape was indeed supposed to be similar to the last living Fujiwara. "Humans grow up, and someday they'll grow old. Every human gets older by the second, and eventually, they'll die." The other humans in Mokou's left hand started fading away, as the phoenix-possessed girl continued "Imagine that fate. Daiyousei, if you had been adopted and raised by humans, you would certainly come to love them like family, and you would have mortal friends as well. Imagine if all those friends and your loved ones got older and older, but every time you looked in the mirror, you saw just yourself staring back, eternally young."

"…"

"Someday, those friends and family will die, and since they're human, they wouldn't be coming back. A human who doesn't understand the price of immortality will only suffer in the end with eternal loneliness. You'll have many experiences in your endless life, and eventually, life will begin to lose its meaning. If you live forever, then nobody can put an end to that life you have, as it becomes more and more stale and meaningless. Unless you're strong-willed, you could easily go mad, or even violent toward everybody you meet."

"It sounds like a terrible fate."

"Indeed. If the body did not die, and the fears born in the mind just continue to pile up, the world would be nothing more than an eternal prison."

"…"

"Consider yourself lucky that all your friends are youkai like yourself. Hopefully, you'll all be close to each other for centuries to come, and consider what decisions you'd make before coming to your conclusion."

"…I understand. Thank you."

* * *

><p><strong>Fantasy Vessel, top deck; the next day…<strong>

"Alright, ladies," Cirno said loudly, standing in front of her three fellow explorers. The three of them were dressed in layers of thick winter clothes for the hike up the nearby glacier, but Cirno was still in her usual blue dress. "I'm willing to bet that somewhere in that glacier, our treasure's waiting for us. Anybody else have to do anything before we head out? We're gonna stay out there until sunset tomorrow, so make sure you can hold out until then!"

"We'd better get some more things in that case," Wriggle said, already heading back below. Things like firewood, and maybe some thermoses filled with hot cocoa. Wriggle would be carrying plenty of the latter; fireflies and cold weather had an astounding way of not getting along well.

"I'll try and stick with you guys, but I can't promise I can hang around if somebody needs to get flown back to the boat in an emergency." For some reason, flying didn't work in this world without wings, effectively making Cirno and Mystia the only ones capable of flight. Even then, Cirno's wings were more for show than for actual flight, and the best they could give her was a really high jump and a slow descent back to the ground. Mystia, on the other hand, was fully capable of flight, like any proper bird would be. "I get the feeling that Wriggle will need to be flown back here before we finish exploring for today."

"Damn. And here I was hoping to get the whole thing covered. See, I had this plan that we'd cover one area every two to five days, starting here and then going around. Although…"

"Although?"

Placing her finger on a bright green part of the map, Cirno explained "Wriggle and I came to the conclusion that this was a plain, but it's landlocked. We can't get there by boat, so we'll just have to park off the shore of the forest surrounding it, and go from there. I bet we could cover the whole plain in two days. I mean, yeah, it's massive and all and it's probably taking up more room than the forest around it, but it's a plain, so it's sure to have great visibility and easy travel."

"Wow, that's pretty deep thinking from you."

"I need to put my thinking cap on." This was an almost unheard-of occurrence with Team Nineball. Cirno usually didn't think about things, which was why people called her an idiot. In truth, she reserved her mental ability for things like planning and whatnot. In the field of planning, not a smarter individual existed in Gensokyo.

* * *

><p><strong>If anybody knows what video game character I was referring to during the whole Mokou deal, please do say so; I wanna see if you caught on :D<strong>

**DISCLAIMER: I've actually not played that game, but I always know about the crazy characters. After all, I came to Touhou thanks to Flandre, and I mostly watched Bleach for Kenpachi.**

**The crazies are the ones I like best, and I write them best as well. Them and big dominant villains like MIMA-SAMA! But enough about villains and lunatics.**

**I have the scene that concludes this adventure written out already, but it's not going to be for a few dozen chapters at least. Also, to commemorate my return to the writing that I cherish so dearly, I'm uploading an image that's been on my computer since shortly after I started writing this. The map that came with Geraldo's letter!**

**Ask for it in your review and I'll PM you with how to find it :D**

**Also, starting with the next chapter, each chapter will fill up a day in Team Nineball's daring adventure, unless I specifically note otherwise. Pretty smart, eh? I can have one half for the day of travel, and one half for camping at night. Genius!**


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